Our tenth MVCfans.com pre-conference season Q&A is with Lyndal Scranton of the Springfield News-Leader. Lyndal has been covering the Bears since they joined the MVC for the 1990-91 season with Coach Charlie Spoonhour.

You can follow his coverage at News-Leader.com or twitter - @lscranton. His blog can be found at MSU Sports Central: Lyndal Scranton blog

Question 1.Missouri State finished last year on a high note with a CITchampionship. Did that help propel the Bears into the offseason? What doyou think having a successful postseason meant to the program?

A. The CIT experience benefited Missouri State in two major ways. One, itallowed the Bears three additional weeks of practices and game preparation.Two, it gave the staff and players experience in one-and-done situationswhich can't hurt when those guys play in the Valley Tournament and any otherpostseason play beyond that this season.

Question 2.MVCfans.com readers voted for Kyle Weems as the pre-season MVC playerof the year. After seeing his game winning 3 pointer against UNI in theconference opener, it's hard to argue that Weems has the potential to bethe league's best player. He leads the Bears in scoring at 16.7 ppg. Howhigh is his ceiling and how much does Coach Martin rely on Weems for oncourt leadership?

A. Weems often is his own worst basketball enemy because he's toounselfish. He's a very outgoing guy on and off the court and wants toinvolve his teammates so much that he often defers when he should be the onetaking the big shot. That, under the urging of Cuonzo Martin, has started tochange. Martin has been pushing him to become the 'go-to' guy that a teamneeds down the stretch in close games. I think we saw that happen atNorthern Iowa. Even though he was having a tough night, Weems hit a shortjumper and the winning 3 in the final few minutes. Weems also is becomingbetter at putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket. He wasprimariliy a jump shooter his first two seasons.

Question 3.MSU had an 8-3 record entering MVC play, having lost at Tennessee, atTulsa, and at Oklahoma State. Is that where you anticipated this clubwould be in the non-conference or were any of those losses particularlydifficult to stomach?

A. I think 8-3 was exactly where most people had the Bears innon-conference with an outside shot at 9-2. MSU had a legitimate chance towin at Tennessee, shooting for the lead with under 2 minutes to go. Tulsawas a disappointing road loss. The team was sluggish as it faced Tulsa onthe end of a 3-games-in-4-nights stretch in 2 cities. If they play Tulsa 10times (5 home and 5 road) I think MSU wins 7.

Question 4.In recent years, MSU struggled on the road in the MVC. How importantwas the win in Cedar Falls to open MVC play?

A. Winning on the road at Northern Iowa was huge for Missouri State. It'seasily the biggest win of the Cuonzo Martin era. How big we won't know forsure until later, but I've seen this program lose that sort of game dozensof times over the last decade. Confidence-wise, I don't think there's anyway to measure how important that victory was for the players.

Question 5.Coach Counzo Martin has arguably his best Bears team this year andexpectations in Springfield are high. Do you believe this team has thepotential to reach the NCAA tournament?

A. This team has the potential, but the margin for error is thin. Thenon-conference resume won't do them any favors if the Bears have to go theat-large route to get into the NCAAs. It'll take a regular-season orleague-tourney title, obviously. But MSU cannot afford significant injuriesto any of its starters as the bench is still a work in progress. Of course,I think that can be said for all MVC teams with the exception of WichitaState, which is extremely deep and talented.

Thanks again to Lyndal for participating in our team by team MVC Q&A. Previous Q&A's can be found in the MVC links section of the forum.